Not ready for school (ASER report 2019 points out infirmities)

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  Not ready for school (ASER report 2019 points out infirmities)

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• Draft NEP: The New Education Policy draft (June 2019) linked "severe learning crisis" with how young kids are taught in India. More than 5 cr children lack foundational literacy and numeracy skills.
• A crisis from the start: Right from  the school's start, deficiencies commence.

1. Early childhood education (pre-schooling) may not be affordable for many, so they enter Std. I directly.
2. Lack of healthcare and nutrition (poor families) is a double whammy.
3. Anganwadi network across India does help to some extent, but not for school readiness.
4. Private pre-school networks are doing more harm than good, as they are backward extensions of schools, and  not developmentally oriented!

• ASER 2019 report: The Annual State of Education Report (ASER) brings out 3 trends –

1. Anganwadi outreach for 3- and 4-year old kids can be grown further. Less than 30% at 3 yrs and 15.6% at 4 are not enrolled anywhere. So, early childhood component in ICDS must be strengthened.
2. The assumption that students move from Std I to VIII from age six to fourteen is wrong, as many are in Std I much before age six.
3. In Std I, the ability to do cognitive activities in 7-8 yr olds is 20% higher than 5-year old children in same class. This age distribution varies between govt and private schools a lot (private have higher age groups in Std I). A large part of this gap in learning can be attributed to this age gap.

• What parents want: A good sign is that nearly all parents want more education for children, even if not educated themselves. They are prone to admitting kids in pre-schools and play schools. The belief is that "more years of schooling are better". Poor parents with no access to private pre-schools and not believing in Anganwadis will put kids straight into Std I of nearest govt. school.
• Policy versus practice: The early years (4-8 yrs) is like a 'see-saw'. Many join the Anganwadis, but early childhood education doesn't get prioritised. So they are not ready for school. In parallel, more and more are entering private preschools and pre-primary grades. But both are not focused on development, as private is focused on "downward extension of schooling".
• Summary: Rework the pedagogy, via curriculum and activity change. Entire age band of 4-8 yrs must be exposed to it, be it in govt or private sector. Early childhood education can be the great equaliser (NEP 2019). As 2020 is the tenth anniversary of RTE Act, a great chance awaits to give best grounding to young kids before they even enter schools.
• Wrong pedagogical approaches for youngest children, in Anganwadis or in private pre-schools, is leading to many learning disabilities later on in higher classes.

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